Tag Archives: Rainforest Night Walk

It’s after dinner, almost nine. Arnold hands out our headlamps and continues to tell us the to- do’s before we all head into the bush for our night walk.

“Be very, very quiet. If you see something and want to tell the group, talk quietly and point, or whisper it. We will be walking for about one hour. Sometimes we see nothing, sometimes we see things. You never know, it’s the jungle. Ready?”

There’s a murmur from our five-person group.

Three males, two females, including myself. And then there’s Arnold who leads.

We walk for just a couple of minutes away from the resort before pushing through a narrow entry into the rainforest at Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch. We follow Arnold. It’s quiet, other than the crickets, and the sound of crushed leaves and branches under our feet.

Bubbles of light are swirling around, everyone is looking for “things,” except for me. I’m more concerned about looking where I put my feet.

Arnold is moving steadily but I can’t always see him. At times I can spot the edge of his machete. I am fourth in line.

I start wondering if this was a good idea. If I can just make I out of here alive, I think…

The silence of the forest starts getting to me. I feel like an intruder, trespassing into someone’s home.

The other girl, who is in front of me, seems to feel the same.

“This is intense. Very intense.” she whispers to me, turning around for a quick second.

I whisper back and tell her I’m not sure this was a good idea.I see her nodding.

My lamp shines on her back and I notice the damp hair ringlets on her neck and the dark circle on the back of her tee-shirt.

The full moon is there, too, shining our path some more. I feel my own sweat dripping down my back. The jungle feels like a sauna. Who knew it got that hot in here.

I try to focus on more positive thoughts, like the nice shower that I would take back at my luxury treehouse, and then my thinking gets interrupted by prayers. Please Lord, please don’t let me come across any….